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Capturing the changing face of Shanghai through the past two centuries and the development of the last 30 years, from street photography to fashion shoots, from the intimacy of the lilongs to the grandeur of public facades, a new exhibition is presented by Porsche in collaboration with the Shanghai Centre of Photography

An affair doesn’t have to be physical to be intense – or to ruin a relationship. Guardian readers open up about bonding, betrayal and what happened nextChloe had encouraged her husband to accept the new job. “I told him: ‘Life is too short to be unhappy.’”The effect on him was transformative – but not in the way she had imagined. “One minute, he was a family guy, the next, he was always working late and going in early.” She found out why when she visited him one day at work. Continue reading...

Yakut director Dmitry Davydov’s first feature is an intriguing examination of redemption in Sakha, a remote Russian republicDmitry Davydov is the self-taught Russian director from the remote eastern republic of Sakha who has been gaining golden opinions on the festival circuit for his spare and fervent films, often using non-professional actors. Here is Davydov’s first feature, The Bonfire, from 2016, which is intriguing, if sometimes baffling in its stylistic variations. Mostly it has the uncompromising austerity of a stripped-down social realist drama. And yet occasionally it gives you quite a lot of frills. Intermittently, we get a rich orchestral score that feels as if it comes from another type of film altogether; there’s a “montage” sequence of an old man and a young kid getting to know each other that wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood feature, and a late-breaking marriage subplot that is certainly startling.An old man, Ignat (Alexey Ustinov) living alone in this remote and freezing territory, is horrified when his grownup son takes his own life in a fit of remorse for accidentally killing someone while drunk. Ignat finds a kind of redemption in looking after a local kid whose mum is an alcoholic, but the ageing father of the boy his son killed is in no way chastened or mollified by the suicide of his son’s killer. He can’t forgive or forget and is consumed with the desire to kill Ignat. Continue reading...

The climate crisis has made life in many villages more precarious, leading some to risk joining an exodusFor the Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ people of La Unión in eastern Guatemala, the daily struggle for water involves catching every drop of rain that drips from sloping metal roofs and walking long distances to fill plastic containers from overused streams.In this parched region, communities rely on rainfall to feed their families, and in 2019 worked together to build water reservoirs high in the mountains in order to better cope with increasingly frequent droughts and unpredictable rains which caused their maize and bean crops to fail. Continue reading...

Kaushaliya Vaghela agreed with Ibac investigators that her husband ‘predominantly’ did factional work while paid as electorate officer, sending one email in a year

Investigators trying to establish cause of collision between two trains that left 13 people needing treatmentRail investigators are urgently trying to establish the cause of a collision between two trains that led to at least 13 people needing hospital treatment.Firefighters and other emergency workers evacuated 100 people from the trains in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after the accident on Sunday night. One of the train drivers had to be cut free from his cab. Continue reading...

The artist was 12 when the Kosovo war destroyed his home, but a chance meeting in a refugee camp led him to document a child’s-eye view of the conflictPetrit Halilaj was 12 years old when Serbian troops moved into his Kosovar village, forcing his family to flee and then burning their house to the ground. Piling as much as they could on to a tractor, they took off for his grandfather’s home. When that was also invaded they moved again, flitting from refuge to refuge until they arrived at a camp in Albania, where they sat out the rest of the 15-month war between Serbia and Kosovo.It was there, in the spring of 1999, that Halilaj met up with the Italian psychologist who was to change his life. News reached the tent (in which he was living with his mother, grandfather and four siblings) that Giacomo “Angelo” Poli was giving out paper and felt-tip pens to any child who wanted to draw. Before long he was pouring out images so powerful that the then UN secretary general Kofi Annan asked to meet him during a visit to the camp. Continue reading...

As elected governments fall short on their pledges, some look approvingly to the authoritarian playbook. Are they right?It’s time to acknowledge a difficult truth: our democracies are failing us on the climate crisis. As world leaders prepare for the crucial Glasgow summit this weekend, rhetorical commitments abound. But no government has a plan compatible with the goal that they have all agreed is critical to our collective future: limiting global average temperature rises to 1.5C. In some democracies, such as the UK, there is at least a consensus that something must be done; in others, such as Australia, Canada and the US, political debate rages over the most fundamental questions. Faced with a problem of these proportions, some are running out of patience. The veteran Earth scientist James Lovelock puts his faith in eco-authoritarianism. Climate change is so severe, he has said, that “it may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while”.Lovelock may state this explicitly, but in my many years of work on climate policy and politics, I have been struck by how often people make the same argument implicitly. Bill Gates, in his breathlessly upbeat book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, describes how enlightened investment strategies from well-meaning entrepreneurs could save the day. No need to bother, he implies, with winning hearts, minds or votes. Then there are those who look approvingly towards China, a country where the very lack of democratic accountability, they argue, allows leaders to take tough and unpopular decisions. The common theme in all these accounts is that the public are not to be trusted – they do not understand, or care; they are too selfish, or too shortsighted. Better to let the experts decide. Continue reading...

A new collection of photography aims to capture the upbeat, joyous side of life in the Arab world, away from war and suffering. Fouad Elkoury talks us through his projectOn 4 August 2020, Fouad Elkoury was sitting in his home in Beirut when an enormous explosion at the port shattered his windows and blasted through his living room. Miraculously, the Lebanese photographer survived but his home was destroyed, along with those of an estimated 300,000 others. “When you go through such an explosion,” he says, “first, your memory disappears. Second, your hearing is ruined. And third, you stop planning. Things are so big, you realise you are nothing. This is where I am at the moment.”One of Lebanon’s foremost photographers, Elkoury came to international recognition with his intimate photographs documenting life during the Lebanese civil war in Beirut in the 1970s and early 80s. Travelling in the years following the conflict, he found himself aboard the ship carrying Yasser Arafat during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He created Atlantis, a nautical series of images featuring the Palestinian leader. Continue reading...

TGA has recognised Covaxin and BBIBP-CorV for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status; Barnaby Joyce says WA premier ‘lost his marbles’ when asked about opening the border; Victoria records 1,471 new Covid-19 cases overnight; NSW records 135; vaccine mandate for ACT disability workers. This blog is now closed

Man died at scene of what police have called a ‘targeted incident’ on Saturday nightThree men have been arrested on suspicion of murder following a fatal stabbing in Berkshire that police have called a “targeted incident”.Thames Valley police said its officers were called to reports of a stabbing at Romany Lane, in the Reading suburb of Tilehurst, at about 10.40pm on Sunday, when they found a man in his twenties who died at the scene. Continue reading...

In the face of government denial, four young people tell their stories. Shot, beaten and terrified, they speak of disillusionment, but also of hope

Eight pro-democracy activists including the prominent businessman had been charged under national security lawsThe trial of eight pro-democracy activists, including Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, who were charged over their roles in an unauthorised Tiananmen vigil last year began on Monday.Lai and the seven others, including Lee Cheuk-yan, the former chairman of the now defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, face charges of organising, participating and inciting others to take part in the unauthorised candlelight vigil commemorating the bloody 1989 crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Continue reading...

It is now 100 times more lucrative to mine gold from e-dumps than from the ground. Yet 70 years ago, we barely threw anything away at all. Can design change our disposable culture?How will this age be remembered? After the stone age, the bronze age, the steam age and the information age, what material or innovation will most define the current era? According to a new exhibition at the Design Museum, the most ubiquitous hallmark of the Anthropocene is not a gamechanging material, nor the mastery of technology. It’s trash.

Petra Wenham re-evaluated her life in hospital, confronting an unease she had always felt, before coming out as transgenderSometimes one kind of pain can bring to light another. Stuck in hospital for a month, Petra Wenham resolved to confront an unease she had carried throughout her whole life. She was 68 and had lost 30kg as a result of severe colitis. “My family were very worried. I was evaluating my life.”Between morphine injections, Wenham, a retired cybersecurity consultant, had time to wander online, where she found a blog whose author had decided to transition after treading on a shard of glass. Something about the way the pain, vulnerability and sense of mortality galvanised the blogger spoke to Wenham. Continue reading...

Japanese media report man in Batman villain costume stabbed people and started a fireA suspect has been arrested for attempted murder after 17 people were injured in a knife and fire attack on a train in Tokyo that was carried out by a man wearing a Joker costume.Witnesses told public broadcaster NHK how petrified passengers had fled to adjoining carriages and jumped out of windows during the attack, which occurred on Sunday, when the Japanese capital was full of Halloween revellers, many in costume. Continue reading...

Allegations come as protesters at G20 summit criticise Bolsonaro over Covid responseBrazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s security detail allegedly used violence against Brazilian reporters covering his trip to Rome for the G20 meeting, local media reported.The alleged attacks against Brazilian reporters, who Bolsonaro has long accused of treating him unfairly and publishing fake news, capped a grim weekend for the right-wing president. Continue reading...

Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings into the former premier’s dealings with Daryl Maguire continue for a second day. Follow live

Conservative LDP along with coalition partner Komeito retain control of parliament, defying expectationsJapan’s ruling conservative party defied expectations in Sunday’s general election, with a comfortable victory that will boost the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, as he attempts to steer the economy out of the coronavirus pandemic.Kishida’s Liberal Democratic party secured 261 seats in the 465-member lower house – the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber Diet – slightly down on its pre-election 276 seats. Continue reading...

Fully vaccinated Australians are allowed to fly in and walk straight into arms of loved ones for first time in 583 days

Sydney airport has been a scene of tearful reunions, with Australians able to fly home and walk straight out of the airport for the first time in 583 days. As fully vaccinated passengers on the first flights from Singapore and Los Angeles walked into the arrivals terminal shortly after 6am, they were greeted by family members. In many cases, they had been separated for years – since before the pandemic began. ‘It’s a little bit scary and exciting,' traveller Ethan Carter said. ‘I’ve come home to see my mum 'cause she's not well. So it's all anxious and excitement and I love her heaps and I can't wait to see her’

Cliches aside, new hires and storylines add inclusivity to the menu in show’s series twoIt has been criticised for trotting out cliches about France and the French and mocked for its idealised portrayal of Paris. But now the Netflix show Emily in Paris will focus on diversity and inclusion for its second series, according to its star, Lily Collins.The actor, who stars as Emily and is also a producer on the series, said she had heard viewers’ concerns about the show, which first hit our screens last year, and efforts had been made to address them.The second series of Emily in Paris is scheduled for release in December. Continue reading...

President makes commitment alongside Germany, France and UK not to repeat Donald Trump’s walkout on agreementJoe Biden has given a pledge that if the US returns to the Iran nuclear agreement, it will only subsequently leave if Tehran clearly breaks the terms of the deal.The US president made the commitment, which addresses one of Iran’s key negotiating demands, in a joint statement issued with Germany, France and the UK. The statement followed a meeting on the margins of the G20 in Rome attended by Biden, Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Boris Johnson. Continue reading...

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Emmanuel Macron has accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over an abandoned $90bn submarine contract, in a significant escalation of tensions between Paris and Canberra. 'I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistent with this value,' the French president said. When asked whether he thought Morrison had lied to him by not revealing Australia’s dialogue with the UK and US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines, Macron was direct in his response. 'I don’t think, I know'.Video courtesy of Pablo Viñales

Number of injuries not yet known but rail services are suspended in the areaEmergency services have scrambled to respond to a collision of two trains near Salisbury on Sunday night, in a critical incident that left one train carriage derailed.About 50 firefighters from Dorset and Wiltshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight and South Western fire and rescue services are at the scene, which is close to London Road in Salisbury, along with Wiltshire police and Network Rail. Continue reading...

Paul O’Dwyer jumped into Cleddau river in Wales to try to save two women who had got into difficultiesA father of three had died fighting to save two struggling paddleboarders in south-west Wales on Saturday, in an “absolutely heartbreaking” incident that left three people dead and one in a critical condition.Paul O’Dwyer, a former soldier, jumped into the water in an attempt to rescue two women in distress, but was later pronounced dead on the banks of the Cleddau river in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. Continue reading...

Monday: the French president has accused Australia’s prime minister of lying over a submarine contract. Plus: the changing sound of travelGood morning. The French president has accused Australian prime minister Scott Morrison of lying over a major submarine contract. Australia’s carbon neutrality plan is under fire for its over reliance on carbon removal technology. And the Qantas soundtrack is back.Emmanuel Macron has accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over an abandoned $90bn submarine contract, in a significant escalation of tensions between Paris and Canberra. The French president levelled the accusation to journalists on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. Meanwhile, Alok Sharma, president of the Cop26 climate summit, has called on global leaders to “banish ghosts of the past” and step up with new pledges to lower emissions as the world is running out of time to keep warming below 1.5C. As leaders prepared to fly in for the conference in Glasgow, Sharma could not say with certainty that the two-week event would end with a deal to keep that prospect alive. Continue reading...

French president criticises Scott Morrison and expresses scepticism that Aukus pact will deliver on scheduleEmmanuel Macron has accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over an abandoned $90bn submarine contract, in a significant escalation of tensions between Paris and Canberra.The French president levelled the accusation in impromptu comments to Australian journalists on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. He said he had a lot of “respect and friendship” for Australia and Australians, but that respect between nations needed to be reciprocated. Continue reading...

Lawyer calls for improved education on issue and says figures are likely to show ‘tip of the iceberg’The number of “honour-based” abuse (HBA) offences recorded by English police forces has soared over the past five years, figures suggest.According to data from the 28 out of 39 constabularies that responded to freedom of information (FoI) requests, the number of HBA cases – including offences such as rape, death threats and assault – rose from 884 in 2016 to 1,599 last year, a rise of 81%. Continue reading...

Vessel allowed to disembark almost 400 people in Aegean port of Kos in ‘unusual and special case’After roaming the high seas for four days as Greece and Turkey haggled over its fate, a cargo ship packed with hundreds of Afghan refugees has been allowed to dock at an Aegean island, with passengers disembarking to apply for asylum.In what Greece’s migration ministry called “an unusual and special case”, the Turkish-flagged vessel was towed into the port of Kos on Sunday. About 375 passengers, the biggest single influx of asylum seekers in years, were taken to a reception centre on the island. Six others were detained for questioning and one woman was admitted to hospital on the island of Karpathos. Continue reading...

Alcohol duty | Sleeper trains | Acronyms | Recycled rolling pins | FacebookSebastian Monblat (Letters, 28 October) needn’t worry about unhealthier livers. The chancellor has cut duty, not pump prices. Can you see anybody reducing a £4 pint by 3p? The reduction in tax will benefit brewers, not customers. More pork barrel than beer barrel.

Congressman hails ‘historic clean-up’ after police raids on farmhouses in Minas GeraisPolice in Brazil have killed 25 suspects as part of what authorities called an unprecedented offensive against heavily armed bank robbers whose brazen heists have brought several major cities to a standstill.The alleged criminals were gunned down in the early hours of Sunday in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais, where police claimed they had been poised to unleash an attack. Continue reading...

Militia and police personnel target protesters in south Khartoum a day after deadly crackdownSudanese anti-coup protesters gathered behind barricades in Khartoum on Sunday, a day after a deadly crackdown on mass rallies.Tens of thousands of people turned out across the country for Saturday’s demonstrations, and at least three people were shot dead and more than 100 people wounded, according to medics. Police denied the killings or using live bullets. Continue reading...

Grattan Institute says subsidies to cut 500m tonnes of CO2 a year is ‘beyond comprehension’

Scott Morrison and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong met on sidelines of G20

Restaurateur Ado Campeol launched the coffee-flavoured dessert, which means ‘pick me up’, in 1972An Italian restaurateur known as the “father of tiramisù” has died, aged 93. Ado Campeol died at his home in Treviso, in the Veneto region, on Saturday.Although its origins are often disputed and the recipe was never copyrighted by the family, Campeol and his wife, Alba, the owners of the restaurant Alle Beccherie, are widely considered to be the inventors of one of the most famous desserts in the world. Continue reading...

PM says Australia has cut emissions by ‘more than most of the countries sitting around this table’

No 10 says ‘our stance has not changed’ after French officials state Macron and Johnson found path to de-escalating disputeA dispute between the UK and France over post-Brexit fishing rights has escalated significantly after a meeting between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, with Downing Street rejecting a French claim that the two leaders had agreed a path towards resolving the issue.Johnson and the French president met alone for half an hour on Sunday morning on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rome, where they discussed next week’s Cop26 climate summit, as well as tensions over Northern Ireland and fishing. Continue reading...

Environment minister among those hit by delays, while suspected tornadoes are reported in some areasRail travel routes for delegates heading to Cop26 in Glasgow, including the environment minister Zac Goldsmith, have been blocked, after stormy weather swept through the UK bringing suspected tornadoes to parts of the country.A fallen tree on the west coast mainline between Rugby and Milton Keynes led Avanti West Coast to advise customers against travelling north from London on Sunday. Continue reading...

At Cop26 a plan is urgently needed that will allow Africa to develop as well as adapt to global heating

The Basel-based ‘starchitects’ are at work on highly charged projects in Israel, Hong Kong and the new Cambridge HQ of AstraZeneca. How do they negotiate openness and inclusion?Next month, a mighty new art museum opens in Hong Kong, billed as the most significant in the continent of Asia, whose waterside facade features a vertical digital screen the size of a football pitch. It does this in the middle of the political storm caused by the Chinese government’s national security law, which threatens to crush the museum’s promises of freedom of expression.On the outskirts of Cambridge, England, the finishing touches are being applied to the crystalline new headquarters of AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company whose Covid vaccine has made it a global household name. In Jerusalem, just across the road from the Israeli parliament building, a new national library is under construction, with the stated aim of serving all the communities and faiths of a violently divided country. Continue reading...

Forrest Gump’s wisdom has inspired many of us, but Rob Pope took that a step further, dressing as his hero for the run of his life. But why? And what did he learn?On 15 September 2016, Rob Pope, a chipper veterinarian from Liverpool, sat down in the chair of Fluke’s Barbers in Mobile, Alabama, and readied himself for a haircut. “So what would you like?” the barber asked him. Pope held up a photo of Forrest Gump. It had taken years of planning for Pope to embark on this trip to America, to make it to this barber’s chair. He’d spent countless hours daydreaming about it, building the momentum to go. As his job became ever more miserable – he was working 13-hour days, five days a week – the urge to escape became insurmountable. He quit and, along with his partner and fellow vet, Nadine, headed west.In many ways, the seed for this adventure was sown in 2002. That was the year Pope’s mum, Cathy, died after a cancer diagnosis. Cathy was a medical laboratory scientific officer and a single parent. She raised Pope with grit, determination and heartfelt support of his passion: running. He’d shown promise at the sport since his school days when he took part in the oft-dreaded cross-country and excelled at it. Cathy would take him to his races, which soon became marathons. Marathons after marathons. To Pope she was a best friend, a rock, an inspiration, a support-crew leader. Before she died she asked him to make a promise: “Do one thing in your life that makes a difference.” These words echoed in his mind as he sat in that Alabamabarbershop, awaiting his turn beneath the clippers. Continue reading...

Labour MP who represented his native Dundee for 26 years and campaigned for local and Middle Eastern causesErnie Ross, who has died aged 79, was an energetic and able working-class Labour MP who represented his native Dundee for 26 years. During which he moved from Bennite loyalties to a mainstream position within the parliamentary party.He had a longstanding interest in international as well as domestic issues, and when Labour won in 1997 was delighted to find himself a member of the foreign affairs select committee. However, loyalty, in particular to Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, soon led him into a high-profile episode that resulted in him resigning from the committee and being suspended from the House of Commons. Continue reading...

The former League of Gentlemen star on his love of low-budget British spinechillers, his loathing of Brexit and a slew of projects opening this winterMark Gatiss scans the breakfast menu at an east London restaurant with a famished eye. We’re at the hinge moment between the nightlife of an A-lister, who attended the James Bond premiere the previous evening, and the day job as an actor who, by his own account, could only land a role he had wanted all his life by writing the play himself. “It was a long evening,” he says of No Time to Die. He hadn’t had dinner and was trying to stave off the hunger pangs by sipping water, but not too much, because he couldn’t get out to the loo: “So I’m just really hungry.” He’s like a jovial Eeyore, painting himself into a lugubrious picture of the turnip fields of celebrity, before deciding, with a giggle, that a hearty breakfast of avocado on toast is exactly what’s needed to put everything to rights.This is certainly no time to die of hunger for Gatiss, who has rocketed out of the pandemic as one of British showbusiness’s most sought-after all-rounders. He’s currently putting the finishing touches to his remake of the 1972 children’s film The Amazing Mr Blunden while rehearsing his new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The latest in a series of half-hour ghost stories, The Mezzotint, is ready to roll into his now customary slot on the Christmas TV schedules. But it’s not all fear and Victorian clothing, he spent part of the lost year in the Outer Hebrides, playing a country doctor in a first world war romance, The Road Dance, and another part messing about in a pedalo on a boating lake with his old League of Gentlemen muckers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith for a new series of their TV comedy Inside No 9. Continue reading...

Premier François Legault’s government prevents Canada’s Guardian Angel asylum seeker program from spreading its wingsThrough each wave of Montreal’s coronavirus outbreaks, Abdul woke at 5am everyday to deliver groceries on shifts ranging from 10 to 14 hours. As an asylum seeker, Abdul had few other options. “I suffered a lot to survive and support my wife and children during this pandemic,” he said.When the pandemic hit Canada, asylum seekers in essential jobs were disproportionately affected. Many fell ill and died when Montreal became the center of the first two Covid-19 waves. In response to public outrage, Canada’s federal and provincial governments announced a national program (dubbed Guardian Angels) to give asylum seekers a path to permanent residence. Continue reading...

Police say man and two women got into difficulties on River Cleddau in south-west WalesThree paddleboarders have died in south-west Wales after getting into difficulty on a river.A man and two women died at the scene in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, on Saturday morning. Another is in a critical condition and being treated at the town’s Withybush hospital, according to Dyfed-Powys police. Continue reading...

Conference president, Alok Sharma, says countries must agree on how to tackle crisisAlok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate summit, has called on global leaders to “banish ghosts of the past” and step up with new pledges to lower emissions as the world is running out of time to keep warming below 1.5C.As leaders prepared to fly in for the conference in Glasgow, Sharma could not say with certainty that the two-week event would end with a deal to keep that prospect alive. As host nation, the UK is responsible for overseeing the negotiations and trying to extract meaningful pledges from the representatives of almost 200 countries in attendance. Continue reading...

Undercover reporters for ITV documentary find procedure widely available in LondonDozens of clinics, private hospitals and pharmacies are offering controversial hymen repair surgery, an undercover investigation has revealed, as the government moves closer to banning the harmful practice.It has already pledged to outlaw virginity tests – an intrusive and unscientific examination to assess whether the hymen is intact. Continue reading...